First bit of tunnel in

Over the weekend I managed to get the semi-removable section of my gearbox tunnel in. This is fitted with about fifty pop rivits and sealed using a silicon sealant. Getting the tunnel in has been a long winded job and I am glad its just about finished.



I fall goes to plan I am due to have my re-worked cylinder head, exhaust manifold and inlet manifolds fitted in the first part of February. Before these can be fitted I need to cahnge the pistons I currently have in my block, as the one which are in there at the moment are domed and so are no good for my new head, that needs flat top pistons. So a bit of time today was spent ringing around some of the Triumph parts suppliers. It appears that a wholesaler which many of the companies I contacted is moving, so I cannot get anything through them for over a week. Fortunately a couple of companies still claim to be able to get pistons, but at £100 more expensive, I shall have to give one of them a call in the morning.

So the engine is ready to be partially stripped again, to make way for the change of pistons, while I am at it the camshaft will be changed for something a bit more lively than the late GT6 one and the timing chain exchanged for a duplex version which are less prone to stretching then single row chains.

Before the engine can be run though, the fuel system between the engine and fuel tank needs some modification, with the fitting of the high pressure fuel pump and its associated pipework.
One job also in with this will to be to add a fuel return back into the fuel tank for excess fuel. This will mean adding a pipe into the fuel tank somewhere, best properly drain the tank before getting any heat close to it eh?

A bit more done...

Well I have been a bit quite recently, but things have still been progressing, slowly.

The tracking was on my Spitfire is better now, after having it aligned at a local garage. It was greatly improved after the first attempt but it was still pulling to the left, so I took it back for them to have another go at it. I had to wait for half an hour and for them to have another go and even afterwards it seemed to be no better, so I did not bother to let them have another try.

On the GT6 I have been working on the semi-removable section of the gearbox tunnel, after making the extra space required for the metering unit and throttle bodies, the semi-removable section had to be altered to fit again. This is slow going at the moment with regular fitting and re-fitting of components.

In the mean time a few more component s and spare parts have been sourced through good ol' eBay, so I now have a duplex cam sprocket and chain, these look to be in reasonable condition and ready for fitting, the should have saved me £30. Today I picked-up a non-overdrive gearbox from a Triumph TR6, there are known to be stronger than the GT6 boxes. I do not intend to fit it straight away, but seeing as it was local to me and was at the right price it seemed a shame to let it pass.

I hope to get the semi-removable section of the gearbox tunnel fitted soon, so I can move onto the fuel system and the refurbishment of my next engine.

Back on the road

Last night I finished off the fitting of parts on my Spitfire and took it out for a run. An immediately apparent job to do is the tracking, as the car is constantly pulling the steering to the left, this should be done Saturday morning though.
The car feels quite different to drive compared to last time, before the accident, not sure if this is due to the new bushes, trunnion and top ball joint being fitted or just the chage of wheels. The alloy wheels are 175 width, but the steel wheels on there now are only 155's

I took the car out to Chepstow to do some shopping along some of my favorite roads, the only problem I may have is that the damper on the side which failed might have an oil leak - will have to keep an eye on that one,

Thinking back, I am really glad that a breakdown recovery service is part of my car insurance deal. That recovery job would probably have cost as least as much as the insurance.

Accident Post Mortem

Well it appears that as the front vertical link failed on my Spitfire the suspension partially collapsed, dropping that side of the car to the ground. For about thirty yards the car skidded along on three wheels, the front anti-roll bar mount and the lower wishbone.
Because of the car running on these parts, they both have to be replaced, additionally the upper wishbone also have to be replaced as they were deformed as they hit the top of their travel. Finally the tie rod from the steering rack is to be replaced as it is bent in two places.

The day after the accident, all the required parts (which I did not already have) where ordered from a couple of regular Triumph suppliers. The following day, the first packed arrived, containing a refurbished lower wishbone, this came by royal mail, unfortunately the second package, being sent by courier (next day apparently) took another day to arrive. In the mean time work started on stripping down and refurbishing any required parts. During this strip-down I was unable to release the brake calliper, so I took the hub assembly over to a friend to use his air tools. Having made short work of the hub with the air tools, I was then produced with a second or third hand vertical link, which has recently been removed from a Dutton Phaeton - ah just the job, it meant I could carry on with more of the rebuild before the other parts eventually turn up.

While waiting for the courier to arrive, I have changed the wheels around , back onto steels, as one the alloy wheels was punctured as the trunnion dived into it. Once drivable again the car will need to have the tracking checked, having changed parts on the steering rack.

Suspension Failure

I have just returned to Wales after visiting friends and relations in East Anglia, the roads were surprisingly clear and I was really enjoying the trip until.



The off side front suspension collapsed veering me into the oncoming traffic. It didn't half s*&t up the woman driving towards me at the time as my car veered towards her and the bonnet momentarily popped up.
The front vertical link had failed while travelling at about 50mph.

You may be able to see in this second image the mark on the road as the car ground to a halt on the lower wishbone




Lastly the offending vertical link, as removed moments ago, having been recovered from Oxfordshire to Monmouthshire.

Time on the Spitfire

Work on the GT6 has been progressing slowly, with the gearbox tunnel starting to be fitted, to complete it though I will need the cut-down gear extension, so I know where to cut the hole for it.

I have had to do some maintenance on the Spitfire, I felt that it was becoming a bit gutless, so a new condenser and points were ordered. When I came to fit these parts I had great difficulty in driving the Spitfire from its normal parking space up into the barn, where I had all my tools and better lighting. Once up in the barn the points and condenser were replaced and... no change. The car still refused to go above 2000rpm.
Removing the air box revealed that the pistons and needles in the carburetters were not rising as the throttle was opened up. When the dash-pot from the carburetter was removed, the piston came with it - not a good sign. It turned out that over the years films of muck had built up inside and was preventing the piston to move freely. A quick clean the some silver polish and it was all moving well again.


For Christmas I drove in the Spitfire from Wales to East Anglia to meet up with my parents. About five miles into the journey and the car starts missing and the stops completely, on a blind corner just before the summit of a hill. After trying to start it again but to no avail, I jumped out and popped open the bonnet and whipped off the distributor cap, nothing obvious there but connections were checked and I was soon on the go again - at least I could get off the road now.
I drove to the next layby to have a better look, it turned out that a connection on the points from the wire from the coil was intermittent as the wire end had been crimped poorly and the crimp had failed.
I was on the go again though, later while passing through I was able to pick up another condenser and points, this time Lucas made.

More space required, gearbox started & 10CR

After spending some time the previous weekend making space for the metering unit and throttle bodies, I found that I needed even more space, this time I needed to push backwards into the car. Some rough cuts were made with the engine still in place but, to finish the job and make it look a bit tidier, the engine was removed again.

As can be seen in the image, I had boxed in an area for the metering unit; this has now had one side opened out to allow for the extra space required. It's all looking quite rough and ready at the moment, a bit more welding and paint should see it good though.

I seem to have had some sort of cold hanging around me for the past three weeks or so, which makes me quite lethargic. I could really do without it when I ought to be outside of an evening working on the car. Despite this I managed to drag myself out last night and started looking at gearboxes with a view to making a stronger box to go in the GT6.


The new gearbox will use the casing of the three rail boxes along with the internals of the later (and stronger) single rail gearboxes along with a "J" type overdrive. To complicate things, the later single rail overdrive gearboxes are longer than the early three rail ones, in a more standard car this would not be much of an issue, you would just have to have the prop shaft shortened and move the mount backwards.
Because I have moved the engine back six inches in my car, to move the gearbox mount further back would require an excessive amount of re-engineering. The alternative way to work around this is to use the earlier three rail "J" type main shaft (output shaft) and have a sleeve fitted over one end to bring it up to size and mate with the late input shaft. One of the Triumph parts suppliers stock a heavy-duty version of the early main shaft, hopefully this could be a direct replacement for a sleeved shaft, shall have to make a few more enquiries.

I started off with the single rail overdrive box, this came from a Triumph Dolomite 1850 which was being broken for spares, having been couriered over to me, I assumed the oil had been drained, but it had not, so that was the first job. It was quite encouraging as the oil flowed out that there was only a minimal amount of metallic material carried in the oil of on the magnetic sump plug, although I did find a locking screw, not sure where that has come from, but all other signs look good for it though.


It appears this box has been re-built sometime as all the joining surfaces have been smothered in a mastic type jointing compound and the serial number prefix of the box was CG, meaning the case originally came from a TR7, this was stamped over when it was re-built.

The gearbox, which is going to donate its case, is a non-overdrive three-rail version. This box was originally fitted in my GT6 when I purchased it and to the best of my knowledge it is the one that was supplied with the car. When I drained the oil from this box it was a completely different story as the oil was laden with bronze from the synchromesh rings and a mass of steel shavings clinging onto the magnetic sump plug.

Jobs for the forthcoming week include finishing of the bodywork around the bulkhead and stripping and assessing the quality of the component gearbox parts.

Almost forgot to mention, my entrance into the 10CR has been accepted. To learn more about the 10CR have a look here